A second one scrambles out of the ground and grabs my left arm, scuffling with the first as it tries to pull me apart! My deployed blade cuts through a tooth, but the Devourer still holds on-.
They were hiding in the hole Ragnar made? That's-. That suggests a lot of intelligence. But how do I get out without using my rings?
Any number of forearm-mounted weapons? You
should at least have crumbler systems in the knuckles.
There's a small spark in my left arm as the kinetic barrier fails, and I immediately switch on the crumbler gauntlet.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
There we go! Say good bye to your teeth, beastie.
The Devourer's mouth froths with blood as the crumbler field gets to work, but it's… Somehow holding on, though with less pressure than it managed before.
"Kalmin, found the Devourers![/color]
...Okay, these things must have
dense cellular structures if a Crumbler didn't erase it's mouth entirely. Or is it simply too big for that?
A third Devourer surfaces and bounds towards the oncoming skimmers, the people on board choosing to open fire with personal side arms rather that fall back. To little apparent effect.
Well, at least they aren't on the invader's side. Surprised they aren't going for heavier weapons, but I guess they didn't come loaded for Devourer. Though if they were coming for Kalmin,
I would have been loaded for Devourer anyway. After all, he was High Weaponer, he's
got to be well hard.
My right arm's out of position, but if I pull-. My left arm comes free is a spray of vaporised dinosaur, causing the Devourer still gripping me to stagger a pace as we lose the counterbalance. I reach across with my left arm as my ring restores the kinetic barrier system, slicing through its muzzle with my x-ionised blade. It bleeds a little, but I'm not hitting anything critical or structural. My attack does prompt it to lift me up and slam me into the-. The ground, yes, felt that a bit.
Presumably they're packing a lot of cranial armour plating. Also:
ow. This is going to be a
messy fight.
Devourer Three has made it to the first skimmer and bites it in two, the q'ardajin on board scrabbling out of the way or diving for the ground. A brave one draws what looks like a small qwa blade and staggers across the deck to try and stab-.
The Devourer spots him, ducks its head to smash the wreck into the ground and then brings its head up to catch him as he falls. It bites down, sending his head and shins exploding outwards as his body disappears down its gullet.
Well
done, dumbass. Maybe now it's had something to eat, it'll be a
little less aggressive. Not that that'll help your former friends any.
I slash again, excising a part of my captor's jaw and loosening its hold, then turn my armour's flight system to full-! Its head jerks to the side but it manages to keep its grip. Alright, ring, rebuild the interior of my left gauntlet to include a railgun.
Compliance.
Man, you need to rig up these things as modular, stowed in subspace or something.
And then load it with a crumbler round.
Compliance.
Ah, going for the Chunky Salsa route. Not that I think these things will be all
that bothered by crumblers...
I've got a crumbler system built into my boots but I'm not flexible enough to hit anything with them. On the other hand, I'm mildly impressed with how well my armour is holding togeth-.
Devourer Two slams into Devourer One, sending it and me rolling across the barren ground, images spinning-. My ring settles my stomach as Devourer One rolls to its feet and squares off against Two. Guess I'm not tasty enough.
Or they're doing the old "Oi, I saw it first!" "Gerroff, I had it in me mouth!" argument. They're clearly not used to facing
that much resistance from a meal...
Railgun ready.
Slow-firing and low-impact compared to the ones I usually use, but I aim at Devourer One's right eye as it prepares to charge Two and fire. It's eye is vaporised and it shakes in shock and I reverse thrust for a second before pulling away again! Teeth snap and fragments spray as I come free, my sudden impulse sending me across the rocky ground in a tumble.
Okay, I see why Kalmin doesn't mind them. They're tough and ornery as hell...
Stabilise. Right, good. Two takes advantage of One's distraction to attack it, biting at its neck. I don't know how they managed to stand being in close proximity underground if their first instinct is to attack each other, but maybe it's a combat reflex? Or maybe they just hatched? Or the sight of blood? Because whatever makes them regenerate that fast doesn't get rid of the external scabs. Alright, next-.
"YAAAGH!"
Oh right, the attacking Qwardians. Wonder if they're a formal hit squad or some enthusiastic amateurs... Given their lack of big guns, likely the latter.
Rescue the q'ardajin from Three-. Not something a Weaponer-produced robot would do. Except that's literally what Gnaxos did. Oh, if they ask I can always say that they registered as a non-threat. I fly towards Three, integrated railgun aiming-. Heck. I shoot a trapped q'ardajin in the shoulder, breaking her body's connection to the arm that is in the Devourer's mouth. It tries to lunge after her but she rolls aside, its muzzle hitting the ground and losing the arm as it gets a mouthful of dirt. Right, let's try a decapitation strike. Ring, extend right x-ionised blade.
Well, at least she's out of its' mouth? And now she herself can build a
better one, with
blackjack and hookers Razor-claws and lasers. (Trusting someone
else to make it? Foolishness!)
Compliance.
Unwieldy, but it's not like I'm trying to duel someone here. I lunge and swing, cleaving through its spine and neck, its neck-. Trying to reconnect as I pass, but a combination of a reverse swipe and its own weight splits the two parts far enough apart that the… Regrowth tendrils are unable to grasp one another. A quick healing ray burst at the woman's shoulder-.
Geez, are these things part-Czarnian or something? That is
ludicrously aggressive regeneration. Still, having its' spine severed should slow it down a
little.
The shot from the weapon in her off-hand hits the centre of my torso and bores through about 5mm of the armour before I switch to my plasmic force field.
"Get eaten, the-."
Hey, she probably recognised you as Kalmin's pet robot, and you
did target her with an unknown energy weapon. She probably feels justified.
I go flying as One and Two roll through the space I was occupying, scrabbling at each with all four claws! I slam into the ground, q'ardajin-. Yes, they're shooting me now, great. Shield's holding okay, so I guess they're not using dedicated anti-shield weapons. I bring my sword to bear-.
One of them just shot it. Ah-.
Sheesh, I guess
someone took Sunder as a bonus feat. Really need a beam-resistant coating or something on them.
"Incompetent machine."
The Devourers scramble back onto their feet as Kalmin holds out his right hand, qwa energy cracking as he forces it into a thunderbolt shape.
Ah, Daddy's stepped in. Someone's getting annihilated!
"Beast, flee or-."
"RAAAAAGH!" / "RAAAAAGH!"
They're likely in a blood rage at this point. Everything else is food. And that regeneration must make them
ravenous.
They charge, and Kalmin throws. The qwa bolt strikes the ground between then, detonating and annihilating their legs and lower torsos. He stalks forward as they land and then try and squirm snake-like towards him. He gives his hammer a practice swing as another qwa-bolt forms.
"Death, then. It was good to see sure a pure killer-" He aims the bolt- "-instinct." -and throws it, Two's head being annihilated as One snaps at him. Kalmin sidesteps and swings his hammer, the sudden energy release causing its head to snap in two. "If only q'ardajin were so simple."
To be fair, Q'ardajin
do have more developed needs than Food, Sleep and Mating.
One tries, somehow, to move. Kalmin bats its mouth down with his hammer and climbs onto what's left of its broken head. He takes a moment to make eye contact with it, making sure that it knows exactly who is going to kill it. Then he raises his right hand high, forms a new bolt, then plunges it downwards.
Kalmin floats off the ground for a moment as the head vanishes, contemplating the space where it used to be. Then he prepares another qwa bolt, glaring at the other q'ardajin.
Yeah, that's a clear 'Who's next? Come have a go if you think you're hard enough!' moment. Any
sane person would probably back down...
"Why are you here?"
One tries shooting him. Kalmin's armour easily tanks the shot and his qwa bolt riposte disintegrates the man and the three standing closest to him.
...Too bad these guys clearly
aren't sane. Kalmin's probably thinking 'Need
more gun.' at that dipstick.
Kalmin floats forward to stand on the Devourer's chest.
"You coming here just as I return is not a coincidence. If you tell me who sent you, I will probably turn my ire against them-."
I like that he only
suggests that he won't kill them all. Depends on how
quickly they pony up, I bet.
"You should be dead!"
The other q'ardajin back away from the one-armed woman who shouted that.
My, she's got some
feelings towards him. Do we have a true believer, perhaps?
"You gave a great weapon to an alien and they let you live!"
"I can't argue the facts. But you have erred in your belief that you could do anything about it."
That would be Sinestro's Yellow Ring, I take it. I can't think of any
other great weapons
Kalmin might have handed over.
"That's not he point. I am not so craven that I only try things that are easy!"
Kalmin actually smiles a little at that, though I don't think any of them can see that.
"This wasn't easy, and you too failed at it. What should be your punishment, I wonder?"
I suspect she would demand death. Which might be enough to impress him that he doesn't kill her immediately. Her
buddies, however...
